As Jeter argues that the Yankees owe him better, I wonder if he’s ever stopped to consider what he might owe them. Jeter is viewed as a guy you can build championships around, but that speaks much more to leadership and timing than it does to his offense or defense. You could argue that on another team, with another lineup, in another market, Jeter is good; but Hall of Fame worthy? He’s a guy who came up on a loaded team, and always enjoyed the comforts associated with that. The Yankees spent over a billion dollars surrounding him with talent in between his world titles, they deferred to him over A-Rod, who was easily the better defensive option at shortstop when the decision was made, and have given him an opportunity on the world’s biggest stage, that will allow him a life of celebrity long after his career is officially over. Would that have happened for him in Kansas City? And last but not least, the Yankees are storied and respected franchise and brand already, despite their lack of a hitter with 3000 hits. I can’t believe that being the first isn’t important to Jeter. It would mean a lot to the Yankees to see Jeter achieve that milestone in pinstripes; I can’t believe that it doesn’t mean even more to Derek Jeter.

The Big 10 leads the ACC / Big 10 Challenge with 7 games in the books by a 4-3 margin. The second ranked Buckeyes of Ohio State made easier work of Florida State in a plodding game that probably wasn’t even as close as their 14-point margin of victory would indicate. They Buckeyes are big and young up front, they hardly looked like a #2 ranked team yesterday, but they’ll be scary by March.

Harrison Barnes and the Tarheels on the other hand looked plain bad against #21 Illinois. He’ll have to look better by March if he intends to live up to the early NBA draft hype that surrounds him. In my first chance to see him in action, there wasn’t much to see.

In other action Northwestern ran the wheels off of Georgia Tech, and Michigan dispatched of Clemson, while Miami ran past Ole Miss and Wake Forest broke Iowa’s heart on a buzzer beater by freshman JT Terrell from 3.

The real game of the night, happened outside of the challenge with #14 Georgetown outlasting #8 Missouri in a battle of previously unbeaten teams.

Here’s what on for Wednesday Night:

csn, masn, john wall, san antonio spurs, washington wizards,

NBA

There are 4 NBA games to choose from on Tuesday, but aside from a possible John Wall return against the Raptors, there’s little in the way of compelling storylines. The Spurs are playing great ball, and could be worth a watch, they’re playing the uber-young Clippers with Blake Griffin (maybe the NBA’s best poster dunker already), Eric Bledsoe and Al-Farouq Aminu all seeing starter’s minutes.

The ACC / Big 10 Challenge finishes up on Wednesday night, and the Terps are playing at Penn State at 9:15. Your remote may be working overtime though, as #6 Michigan State takes on #1 Duke at 9:30. Both should be worth checking out, and for Terps fans, someone has to lose that Spartans vs. Devils match up.

7:00 pm American @ West Virginia – MASN / ESPN3

7:00 pm Florida International @ Louisville- ESPN3

7:00 pm VCU @ South Florida – ESPN3

7:00 pm #16 Florida @ University of Central Florida – ESPN3

7:15 pm NC State @ Wisconsin – ESPN2

7:15 pm Indiana @ Boston College – ESPNU

7:30 pm #18 Purdue @ Virginia Tech – ESPN

8:00 pm Arizona @ Rice – CBSCH (854 on Comcast Baltimore County)

8:00 pm Iowa @ Northern Iowa – ESPN3

8:00 pm Bulter @ Loyola (IL) – ESPN3

8:00 pm Oklahoma @ Arkansas – ESPN3

8:00 pm Lamar @ #20 Texas – ESPN3

9:00 pm Western Kentucky @ Vanderbilt – ESPN3

9:15 pm Maryland @ Penn State – ESPN2

9:15 pm Duquesne @ #3 Pitt – ESPNU

9:30 pm #6 Michigan State @ #1 Duke

MMA

The final episode of the Ultimate Fighter season airs on Spike at 9pm. There are 2 matches to determine spots in the finale which is on this Saturday. I’ll have more on that later in the week. For this one, I’m going with Brookins for sure and Johnson with caution.